Dropping Pernicious Habits: 2 out of 3 Ain't Bad

Now don't be sad,

two out of three ain't bad.

(Meatloaf, Two out of Three Ain't Bad) 

In my book, "The Magnificent Experiment", I had a little section on will-power in which I described a period when I tried to reduce my somewhat excessive coffee consumption a little. It turned out that I never really delivered on this goal. I simply love coffee too much and thank God for granting me my daily cups :)

The note is titled, "Two out of Three Ain't Bad" because I did implement two other changes: I used to have my bottle of wine over the weekend but I cut that out completely. I also enjoyed watching pornography in the past but had to stop that when my spiritual path opened up to me. 

As far as the weekly bottle of wine is concerned, I am really not sure that it interferes with my spiritual dimension, but I had to cut it out anyhow because it messes up my sleep patterns and adds to my weight. Banning pornography was a more serious matter for me. I enjoyed watching some steamy stuff in the past, but when my spiritual path opened up to me in earnest I found out the hard way that it was causing havoc for my spiritual well-being. I simply didn't have a choice but to stop.

Actually, I had to think a little which three pernicious habits I wanted to write about when the song "Two out of Three Ain't Bad" popped into my head. I could have been a discussion of sex more generally, workaholism, meat consumption, spicy food, mindless eating, shopping, swearing, and so much more. Except for a few activities where it is pretty straight-forward which way to go when you are a spiritual traveler, for others it is just not so clear-cut. I can only tell you what works for me and what not, but every spiritual traveler probably comes up with different answers. 

I remember two cases when an "authoritative spiritual figure" advices us what to do and what not. God, in Neale Walsch's "Conversations with God", tells him that alcohol in any quantity is harmful for the body. But then, Neale Walsch admitted himself that he had in the past struggled with alcohol excess, so could God perhaps have had a different private conversation with another spiritual traveler? I certainly don't know, but on the positive side, I enjoyed reading Jane Robertson's channeling exercise in which the ascended master Seth tells her that swearing is not spiritually harmful. Well, that works for me just fine given that I love swearing, especially in my native German tongue :)

We are all on different spiritual paths, so you figure out what works for you and what not. Next to many monks are similarly awakened spiritual travelers who practice sharing love physically; and next to spiritual travelers who are abstinent are other spiritual folks who enjoy sharing the liquid spirit with friends without incurring any harm whatsoever. So you find out what works for you, and let us know about it so that we can all learn from each other.  Rest assured, if something does you spiritual harm, the Way has Her messengers to let you know about it.  But maybe you too will declare after a period of trial and error, "Two out of Three Ain't Bad!"